Chapter 7 - THE DNA TEST
By sunrise, Ethan had made a decision.
He wanted a new DNA test.
Not because he doubted Lucy.
Not anymore.
But because he wanted something Victoria could never twist.
The hospital arranged a legal chain-of-custody test.
Lucy sat beside him while a technician prepared the swabs.
“Does it hurt?”
“No.”
“Good.”
She nodded seriously.
“I've had enough hospitals.”
Ethan almost smiled.
“So have I.”
The technician swabbed Lucy's cheek.
Then Ethan's.
The samples were sealed in front of Mason.
Results would take several hours with expedited processing.
Lucy watched the envelope disappear.
“What happens if you're not my dad?”
Ethan turned toward her.
The question hurt.
He answered carefully.
“I'll still make sure you're safe.”
She looked down.
“That isn't what I asked.”
Ethan realized she was testing him.
Not scientifically.
Emotionally.
He leaned forward.
“If somehow that test says we're not related, you still walked into my wedding because your mother needed help.”
Lucy looked at him.
“You still deserved someone to listen.”
Her eyes softened.
“And if it says you are my dad?”
Ethan took a breath.
“Then we have eleven years to catch up on.”
For the first time since the chapel, Lucy smiled.
It was small.
But unmistakable.
Hours later, Mason received another call.
His investigator had found Dr. Samuel Grant.
Alive.
Ethan stared at him.
“The plane crash?”
“Grant was listed as a passenger, but apparently he never boarded.”
“Why?”
“Nobody knows.”
“Where is he?”
“Vermont.”
“Can we contact him?”
“Already did.”
Mason's expression was uneasy.
“He refused to discuss Lucy over the phone.”
“Did he say why?”
“He said, and I'm quoting him, ‘If Victoria Hale knows you're asking, don't trust anyone around you.’”
Robert, standing nearby, lowered his eyes.
Ethan looked at him.
“Still think we shouldn't call the police?”
Robert said nothing.
By afternoon, Olivia's condition stabilized enough for her to speak longer.
Ethan told her Grant was alive.
She looked stunned.
“I thought he died.”
“So did everyone else.”
Olivia looked toward Lucy.
“He knew the truth.”
“What exactly happened with the test?”
Olivia closed her eyes.
“When Lucy was six months old, I couldn't live with the uncertainty anymore.”
“You knew she was mine.”
“I did.”
“Then why test?”
“Because Victoria kept saying nobody would believe me.”
Olivia opened her eyes.
“I wanted proof.”
She found Dr. Grant through a clinic in Pennsylvania.
He tested Lucy.
Then secretly obtained Ethan's DNA from an old toothbrush Olivia still had packed away with his belongings.
Ethan almost laughed at the absurdity.
“You kept my toothbrush?”
“I kept a lot of stupid things.”
He looked at the letters.
“Apparently.”
For one moment, they both remembered who they had once been.
Then Olivia's expression darkened again.
“Grant called three days later.”
“What did he say?”
“Probability of paternity greater than ninety-nine point nine percent.”
Ethan exhaled slowly.
“What happened next?”
“Someone broke into my apartment that night.”
“The report?”
“Gone.”
“Anything else?”
“Only the report.”
Ethan's skin went cold.
“Victoria.”
“I assumed so.”
“Why didn't Grant send another copy?”
“He stopped answering.”
“And eight years ago he supposedly died.”
Olivia nodded.
Mason entered.
“The new test is back.”
Lucy stood.
Nobody spoke.
Mason held the sealed report.
He handed it to Ethan.
Ethan opened it.
Read once.
Then again.
Probability of paternity.
99.9998 percent.
Ethan looked at Lucy.
Her eyes were already filling with tears.
“Lucy.”
She covered her mouth.
Ethan couldn't speak for several seconds.
Neither could she.
Then Lucy crossed the room.
Ethan dropped to one knee.
She wrapped her arms around his neck.
He held her.
Not carefully.
Not awkwardly.
Completely.
“My daughter.”
Lucy cried into his shoulder.
“Dad.”
The word almost destroyed him.
Behind them, Olivia turned her face toward the window and wept.
Robert stood near the doorway.
He watched the family he had helped keep apart finally become real.
Then his phone buzzed.
He looked at the message.
His face changed.
Ethan noticed.
“What?”
Robert slowly handed him the phone.
UNKNOWN NUMBER.
One photograph had been attached.
It showed Lucy entering the hospital the previous night.
May you like
Below it was a message.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LET THE WEDDING HAPPEN.
